martes, 26 de mayo de 2009

Shanghai Express

Directed by Josef Von Sternberg, 80 mins

Sternberg was a director that hated realism, and you can tell with many of his films. This is one of his most famous ones, and with good reason. It’s very beautiful to look at, the sets are extraordinary and the photography is flawless. The story deals with British officer Clive Brook, who gets on the Shanghai Express and meets up with an old squeeze, the once sweet now a prostitute Shanghai Lily, played to the hilt by Marlene Dietrich. Their train is later “shanghaied”, if you will, by Warner Orland (from Charlie Chan and Werewolf Of London) who is looking for someone worthy of kidnapping. There are many good performances, Marlene basically owns the movie but it’s Anna May Wong as her Chinese partner who really put a spell on me. In the end, it’s a good classic film that deserves to be watched. 4 out of 5 Chinese prostitutes.